


Instant Messaging: The Disenfranchised

by TheSaddleman



Series: Instant Messaging [10]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Foreshadowing, Friendship, Psychic Paper, improvisational dialogue, john hurt - Freeform, loss of icons, memories become songs, physical media, railing against progress, some minor angst, whouffaldi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 09:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9484949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSaddleman/pseuds/TheSaddleman
Summary: When two pieces of sad news hit Clara back to back, she uses her psychic paper to vent to the Doctor.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I need to explain this story a bit. It was written as therapy in order to get frustrations out. And it was written in less than an hour so I am aware it will read a bit rougher than usual. About 90 minutes ago I heard within the space of two minutes that John Hurt, always one of my favourite actors and of course always to be remembered as the War Doctor, had passed away at the age of 77. Immediately after, I learned that HMV Canada, the last remaining national retailer in Canada specializing in physical music and movie media - and one of the few places that I enjoy going to seeing as I'm not into buying clothes, I don't drink and I don't do sports - is closing down in April 2017. That leaves an ever-shrinking number of bookstores and they're probably not that long for this world, either.
> 
> I felt a straw snap when those pieces of news hit me. The last 12 months have been incredible for losing not just famous people, but iconic people. People I grew up with and idolized. John Hurt was always one of my favourite actors and to hear he's gone now - I've had enough. And the loss of HMV Canada, likewise, sent me into additional upset because I do not feel my life is improved at all by its loss (or the loss of the many other retailers that shut down before). I hamfistedly attempt to coin a phase in this story. But that is what I feel I am, or am becoming.
> 
> So this is my attempt at using the Instant Messaging format to vent, with the aid of my two favourite characters. Whether I'm successful or whether this is a disjointed mess, I shall leave to the reader to decide. If this doesn't work for you, fear not; I'll be back to my usual chipper self before long, I'm sure.
> 
> As this is a somewhat off-piste installment of Instant Messaging, I am not numbering it nor am I attempting to place it anywhere within the continuity of the stories that have been published before, except it obviously takes place prior to Face the Raven.

Doctor? Are you there?

Do you have a moment? 

It’s Clara.

     _I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t._

     _How are you, Clara?_

Sad.

A little depressed.

     _Why?_

Got too much bad news.

Too quickly.

Some trivial.

Some not.

     _What news?_

     _Are you ill?_

     _Is your grandpa ill?_

You mean my gran.

She’s fine.

And so am I. Don’t worry.

     _That’s a relief._

     _So what news?_

John Hurt died.

     _Who?_

John Hurt. The actor.

You saw him in _The Elephant Man_

and he was Ollivander in Harry Potter.

He was one of my favourites.

     _Oh, him._

     _He was also in that offensive movie, Alien._

Doctor, you loved _Alien_

once you finally saw it.

Even if you were rooting 

for the Alien.

     _Someone had to._

     _How young was he?_

77\. Not a bad age.

     _It’s never easy to lose someone._

     _Even if you didn’t know him personally._

That’s the thing.

I actually felt like I knew him.

Not just from his movies.

But because he reminded me of you.

The secret you.

The you we helped end the Time War.

     _I suppose there was a bit of a resemblance._

     _I’ve been told I now look like_

     _some fellow named Malcolm._

     _Someone came up to me in the street_

     _and asked me to swear at them._

Go on! Really?

So did you?

     _Of course._

     _Swore back in Venusian._

     _Venusians really knew how to swear._

So anyway, I also got

some sad news from Canada.

I have a cousin there.

He told me they’re closing down the

last of the big music and movie shops.

     _So he can’t buy music or movies anymore?_

He can, but pretty much just online now.

     _Rather shortsighted._

People prefer downloads.

Give me a real book or a CD any day.

I bought an album once on digital.

Got a few plays out of it

then something got corrupted 

and I couldn’t play it anymore.

Bought the CD the next day.

     _They say it’s progress._

     _And we have to change with the times._

You’re one to talk.

I just don’t like this sort of change.

Because I don’t think it’s an improvement.

It’s like … 

Remember when we went to see

the premiere of

 _Romeo and Juliet_?

Back in 15-whenever?

     _Bill was so nervous_

     _I considered breaking a Law of Time_

     _and giving him a tranquilizer._

     _And I remember you were_

     _quite taken by Juliet._

     _Until I reminded you that, back then_

     _men played all the roles._

He was pretty, I’ll give him that.

But anyway, my point is

that performance is lost forever

because there is no record of it.

No permanent record.

     _I thought you recorded it on your phone._

I did.

And then the OS crashed 

before I had time to back it up.

I had to reformat the phone.

I lost it.

     _Shame._

My friend says he expects

the bookstores to all close next.

Thing is, he’s a bit of an introvert.

Doesn’t drink. Or do sports.

Only buys clothes when he has to.

Places like those stores are

pretty much all he has for entertainment.

It’s sad.

     _The Disenfranchised._

The what?

I saw the capital D.

     _It’s a term given to_

     _people who are left behind_

     _as culture moves on._

     _They stop caring_

     _about anything._

     _Too many changes_

     _they don’t like._

     _They give up._

Sad.

I wish we could give them time machines.

Might make them a bit happier.

They can go back to

when people they’ve lost

are still alive.

When places they enjoyed visiting

are still around.

     _But the Disenfranchised are valuable._

How?

     _They remember._

     _Just like you remember seeing R &J._

     _They keep the memories alive._

     _And sometimes,_

     _they get the last laugh._

Yeah?

     _Remember I took you to_

     _the biggest Library in the universe?_

The one where River...

     _Yes, well…_

     _What medium did they store there?_

Paper.

And I remember they had a huge

archive of things like CDs.

     _The Library exists_

     _because of the Disenfranchised._

     _The ones who held onto_

     _their books and CDs and DVDs._

     _Who broke the rules and found ways of_

     _making permanent physical copies_

     _of digital files._

     _When the Great Purge happened…_

Great Purge …

     _I’ll leave that spoiler for later._

     _When the Great Purge happened,_

     _The Disenfranchised were heroes._

     _Because they saved the culture_

     _from being lost._

     _Their books, CDs …_

     _They became the Library._

     _Although sadly that does mean_

     _Duck Dynasty was preserved._

     _But you can’t have everything._

So in the end, they win?

     _More or less._

     _Though it’ll be sad for a lot of them_

     _for a while._

     _Still, feel better?_

About that, maybe.

Still sad about John Hurt.

And Mary Tyler Moore.

And Carrie Fisher.

And David Bowie.

(Thanks for taking me to see 

him do Ziggy Stardust

by the way.)

     _Don’t mention it._

Seems like we’re losing all the icons.

     _Their stories and songs have ended._

     _But we can keep telling their stories_

     _and singing their songs._

     _And the Disenfranchised will make sure_

     _that it’s all preserved._

     _Even if others think it’s a wasted effort._

I wonder who’ll end up telling our stories?

Our songs?

     _Hopefully we will_

     _do it ourselves._

     _What type of song do you think they’ll_

     _sing about me?_

Probably something like

… 

Anarchy in Gallifrey!

     _Hahahahaha!_

     _“I wanna be … Gallifreee….”_

Are you singing?

     _May-be._

OK, your turn.

What type of song 

for me?

    …

    …

Doctor?

     _Your eyes._

     _Something that’s like your eyes._

This is getting good.

What about my eyes?

     _I can’t describe it._

     _Sorry. Your eyes._

     _Best I can do._

I’m curious now.

What do my eyes sound like?

Are you going to write a song about me?

     _I don’t write songs._

I’ve heard you playing around.

You can write songs.

Very nice songs, if you put your mind to it.

     _I need inspiration._

     _Something … a memory._

And we haven’t 

generated enough of those?

     _It’s got to be something..._

    …

     _I don’t know._

     _But there’s just one thing,_

     _just one thing._

Yes, Doctor?

     _When I find it_

     _I’ll absolutely know._

You owe me one song, mister.

I’m looking forward to it. 

     _So am I._

**Author's Note:**

> Since posting this story I've been told that some of the wording above comes close to quoting a song from the musical Hamilton. I feel I should note that I've never heard a single note from Hamilton so any similarities there are coincidental.
> 
> I have also had it mentioned that my timeline on this story is incorrect because I have Clara talking about events in early 2017, yet she died in 2015. This is not an error as I am of the opinion that she died not in 2015 but in at least 2017, if not later, based upon the Series 8 episode In the Forest of the Night having the Doctor state that it's 2016, which means Last Christmas had take place no earlier than December 2016, meaning the earliest Clara could have died had to have been sometime either late in 2017 or possibly even later due to Clara saying in The Magician's Apprentice that Missy supposedly died "ages ago" which is open to interpretation. The first episode of Class contradicts this by suggesting Clara died prior to 2016 based on dates given in the show. But as most of my stories with Clara and Twelve were written before Class messed things up, this is the dating I follow.
> 
> POSTSCRIPT/ADDENDUM (Feb 26/2017): Since posting this story it's now been announced that Sunrise Records, a Toronto DVD/CD chain, is going national and taking over many of the soon-to-be-closed HMV Canada locations. So Canada isn't without a national physical media chain yet!


End file.
